1 Kings 13

1 A man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam was standing at the altar to sacrifice. 2 And he called out against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “Altar, altar, this is what the Lord says: A son is being born to the house of David, Josiah is his name, and he will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places, the men who sacrifice on you, and he will burn men’s bones on you.” [a] 3 And that day he gave a wonder, saying, “This is the word the Lord has spoken: Look — the altar is being torn open, and the fat on it will be poured out.” [b]

4 And when King Jeroboam heard the words of the man of God who had called out against the altar in Bethel, the king stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” And his hand, which he had stretched out against him, withered, and he could not draw it back to himself. 5 And the altar was torn open, and the fat was poured out from the altar, according to the wonder that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. 6 And King Jeroboam said to the man of God, “Plead before the face of the Lord your God, and let my hand come back to me.” And the man of God pleaded before the face of the Lord, and the Lord brought the king’s hand back to him, and it became as it was before.

7 And the king spoke to the man of God, “Come home with me and have a meal, and I will give you a gift.” 8 And the man of God said to the king, “If you gave me half your house, I would not go in with you, and I would not eat bread or drink water in this place. 9 For this is what the Lord commanded me by his word: ‘Eat no bread, and drink no water, and do not go back by the road you came.’” [c] 10 So he went away by another road, and did not return by the road he had come to Bethel.

11 Now one old prophet lived in Bethel, and his sons came and told him everything the man of God had done that day in Bethel, and the words he had spoken to the king; and they turned their father’s face. [d] 12 And their father spoke to them and said, “Which road did he go by?” And his sons showed him the road by which the man of God who had come from Judah had gone up. 13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it, 14 and he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said to him, “I am.”

15 And he said to him, “Come with me and eat bread.” 16 And he said, “I cannot go back with you at all, and I will not eat bread or drink water in this place; 17 for this is what the Lord has commanded me by his word: ‘Eat no bread there, and drink no water there, and do not go back by the road you came.’” 18 And he said to him, “I too am a prophet, like you, and a messenger has spoken to me by the word of the Lord and said, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, and let him eat bread and drink water.’” But he was lying to him. [e] 19 And he brought him back, and he ate bread and drank water in his house.

20 And while they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back, 21 and he said to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: Because you defied the word of the Lord and did not keep the command that the Lord your God commanded you, [f] 22 but went back and ate bread and drank water in this place, of which he said to you, ‘Eat no bread and drink no water’ — your body will not come into the tomb of your fathers.”

23 And after he had eaten bread and drunk water, the old prophet saddled the donkey for him, and he turned back. 24 And he went off, and a lion found him on the road and killed him. And his body lay thrown down on the road, and the donkey stood beside it, and the lion stood beside the body. [g] 25 And men were passing by and saw the carcass thrown down on the road, and the lion standing beside the carcass; and they went in and spoke of it in the city where the old prophet lived. [h] 26 And the man who had brought him back from the road heard it and said, “That is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord.” [i]

28 And he went and found his body thrown down on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; and the lion had not eaten the body of the man of God, and had not crushed the donkey. 29 And the prophet lifted the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey, and the prophet brought him back to the city, to bury him 30 in his own tomb. And they mourned for him: “Alas, my brother!” [j]

31 And after he had mourned him, he spoke to his sons and said, “When I die, bury me in this tomb where the man of God is buried; lay me beside his bones, so that my bones may be saved along with his bones. 32 For the word will surely come to pass that he spoke by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against the high houses in Samaria.” [k]

33 And after this thing Jeroboam did not turn back from his evil, but turned and made priests of the high places from among the people: anyone who wanted it, he filled his hand, and that man became a priest for the high places. [l] 34 And this thing became sin for the house of Jeroboam, and led to its destruction and its vanishing from the face of the earth.